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Saturday, November 30, 2013

Dance....

11/26

Sigh. Back to normal.

David’s in, ready to do some work for RL. Who
has made his way in as well.

Danielle and I beginning to face the current
financial realities. Though the big, long term picture is now OK, the current
existential reality will take juggling or what RL calls tap dancing. There are only so many balls Danielle can juggle at
the same time and we’re all tired of tap dancing. It’s more like the dancing in
an old western where a bully pulls out a gun and starts shootingat a greenhorn’s feet while laughing and
yelling out dance….

Like I said, back to normal.

Sonnie’s got all kinds of creative ideas for working
with homeless people. He has been one himself.

At the end of the day, Daisy and her dad in for
another English lesson. That’s part of what keeps Danielle going.

Don’t feel good about it but lost it with Joe
late tonight. Was working in the office.Keep hearing loud laughter outside on the steps. So I head out to the
steps. And tell them it’s got to be quiet. It’s night after night the same
thing. I tell him, again, this is about temporary sanctuary, not a permanent
home. Not a party place.

And Joe loses it and starts yelling. And I
yell, listen to yourself. He’s telling me that he goes after bad ones, keeps
them away for me.

I tell him he doesn’t understand the pressure
I’m under, the emails that come from neighbors who feel intimidated. And he
says, Pressure? I got pressure. I’m homeless.

Yeah and over 80% of the homeless people who have
been on these steps have gotten housed. You been out here for months.

And he yells, Keep yelling at me and I…I…I’m
gonna call the cops…you assaulting me…

And very quietly I say, Joe, Joe, you don’t get
it do you? You have no inherent right to be here. You call the cops, you’re
looking at trespass…charges…

A guy who’s been hanging with them is trying to
intervene. Tells me it’s on him. Tells Joe that I’m trying to do him a solid so
he should chill. And he starts to calm down. So why don’t you tell that to Rob
too? That’s as close to the racial card a we get…I do, Joe, I do…

And I know the stats on the increase of homelessness
under Bloomberg. The lack of readily available work for working class